Mackintosh suffers Broadway loss - in court

NEW YORK CITY- British theatre impresario Cameron Mackintosh is famed for rarely putting a foot wrong in New York.
But the billionaire producer made an expensive mistake when he brought in his private cleaner to mop the floor outside his office on Broadway.

A visiting delivery man slipped on the wet surface, suffered shoulder, chest and knee injuries, and now the producer of smash-hit musicals including "Cats", "Phantom of the Opera", and "Les Miserables" has been forced to settle a lawsuit by paying out a reported $2.9 million. The case was on the verge of being put before a jury at Brooklyn Supreme Court last week when an agreement on damages was reached. Court documents indicate Mackintosh was held personally responsible for the November 2008 accident because he was unhappy with the standard of cleaning in the building and regularly brought in his own cleaner to do extra mopping, resulting in the wet floor that a 54-year-old Fedex employee blamed for his accident. "For someone who produced elaborate Broadway shows, he didn't do such a good job managing his personnel," the delivery man's lawyer, Scott Rynecki, said. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed but was said by the New York Daily News to be $2.9 million. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------